Who is Joe Schoen? How Giants’ new GM could impact team’s coaching search

Amid one of the worst stretches in franchise history, the Giants have cleaned house as they try to return to even a semblance of winning. The turnover began with general manager Dave Gettleman, who presided over a four-year stretch where the team went 19-46, the worst record in the NFL in that time.

Gettleman had previously been with the Giants from 1998-2012 in various front-office capacities before returning as GM in 2017. Part of his legacy will be hiring Joe Judge, the team’s most recent coach, who was fired just days after Gettleman announced his retirement.

While the Giants now have a replacement for Gettleman — they hired Bills assistant GM Joe Schoen on Friday — they haven’t yet replaced Judge. In a change of pace for the franchise, owner John Mara said after Judge was fired that the new general manager would fully conduct the coaching search

Sporting News has all the information you need on Schoen and how his hiring could impact the search process.

Who is Joe Schoen?

Schoen is a 20-year NFL veteran who spent the last five years in Buffalo as the Bills’ assistant general manager. He had various jobs with the team but was Brandon Beane’s second-in-command. The two of them helped to orchestrate a major turnaround for the franchise.

In addition to his role in hiring coach Sean McDermott, he helped in the drafting of Josh Allen and the acquisitions of Stefon Diggs, Micah Hyde and others who have been integral to the Bills’ renaissance.

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Much of Schoen’s experience before joining the the Bills came in scouting departments, dating to his first NFL job with the Panthers in 2001. He led the Dolphins’ player development department from 2014 until he arrived in Buffalo in 2017.

At 42, Schoen is one of the youngest active first-time general managers in the NFL.

Who could Joe Schoen hire as coach?

Whoever is tapped to lead Big Blue next will be the team’s fifth coach since 2016. Two of the previous four — interim coach Steve Spagnuolo and Pat Shurmur — had previous head coaching experience, while Joe Judge and Ben McAdoo were first-time head coaches.

Schoen isn’t ruling out anything in terms of experience. Sean McDermott, whom Schoen helped bring to Buffalo, was a first-time head coach.

“We will cast a wide net; it can be former head coaches, first-time head coaches. But, more importantly, it has to be a person who possesses the ability to lead an organization and the ability to motivate and develop players,” he said in a statement.

Schoen does have remote Giants ties — he worked with franchise legend Bill Parcells when Parcells was Miami’s executive vice president of football operations — but for this head coaching hire, he could turn to someone with whom he’s familiar from his time in Buffalo: Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll.

As of now, Daboll is the only candidate the team has officially interviewed. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported the Giants are expected to request permission to interview former Dolphins coach Brian Flores and Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn.

Sporting News’ Vinnie Iyer has offered a list of nine possible replacements for Judge, which can be found here.

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